Dad just wanted to make people laugh ... even in death

COMEDY legend Spike Milligan would be over the Goon at his son following in his footsteps by creating crazy characters to make people laugh.

- BY JEREMY ARMSTRONG

James Milligan originally dreamed up his quirky cast - including Hubert Humperbump, Matilda the Python and Clever Emma for his son Robert, who is now 21.

And now they have been compiled in Book Of Poems For People Under 4ft 2in, which aims to provide laughter and fun for young readers with hidden jokes for grown-ups, too.

James, 49, says his inspiration was his dad's famous poem Smiling Is Infectious, which opens with the lines, "Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the flu, when someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too".

Now a marketing expert living in Northumberland, James was the love child of three-times-married Spike's affair with artist Margaret Maughan, who is still working at the age of 82. Their romance began in 1967 when the comedian was in his 50s.

James was born in 1976 but he did not meet his dad until he was 15, when Spike was in his 70s. Spike - who shot to fame in the Goon Show in the 1950s - took him to his heart and paid for his education.

And they discovered they shared a love of sport, laughter and the absurdities of life.

James says: "I think it is fantastic that he is still making hundreds of thousands of people laugh. And that is what I set out to do with the poems, to make people smile." We meet in James's office at his home, with walls adorned with photos of his famous father - including one of him dressed up as Hitler that James jokes wouldn't be allowed today.

But he also has a poignant photo from the man he called Spike, which is signed simply "Love Dad".

SURREAL

He describes their relationship as more like a friendship than a conventional father-son bond because they had so little time to get to know each other.

James says: "He always said he would be more famous after he died.